Jonah Peake 🐺

Create Health Ventures Launches Inaugural $21M Fund for Early-Stage Digital Health Startups  Create Health Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage digital health companies, has closed its debut fund, raising $21 million, surpassing its initial target. Launched in 2024, Create Health Ventures is based in Austin, TX, and Chicago, IL. The firm focuses on technologies that enhance healthcare access, improve patient experiences, and deliver value across payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies. *Its primary focus includes:   1. Payer-Facing Technologies: Solutions that improve member experiences, enable seamless data and workflow integration, and scale technology across geographies.   2. Clinical Trial Enablement: Tools to help pharmaceutical companies recruit and retain participants for late-stage clinical trials as demand increases. *Founders and Approach:   Create Health Ventures was co-founded by Emma Cartmell and Amit Aysola, healthcare veterans with over 45 years of combined experience. They bring operational expertise, regulatory insight, and an extensive network to portfolio companies. The firm exclusively invests in startups led by healthcare industry founders, leveraging its unique value-added platform for scaling businesses.  *The platform includes: - Business development support   - Access to executive coaches   - Connections to healthcare leaders   - Cross-selling opportunities among portfolio companies  *Key Quotes by GPs:  - Emma Cartmell: “Founders from the healthcare industry understand the challenges and opportunities to improve patient outcomes. Supporting them is the most impactful way we can positively transform healthcare.”   - Amit Aysola: “Payers and pharmaceutical companies are driving demand for connected, scalable solutions, and we are investing in companies to meet these needs.”  *Investments and Impact:  The firm has made five investments so far and partners with foundations, impact investors, and strategic healthcare veterans to mentor portfolio companies.  *Portfolio CEO Feedback:   - Dr. Chip Grant (Watershed Health): “Create Health Ventures has been invaluable in scaling operations and fundraising.”   - Shara Cohen (Carallel): “They are the most collaborative and active investor team I’ve worked with.”   - Neil Batlivala (Pair Team): “They’ve helped us manage growth and reach underserved communities.” If you are experiencing difficulties in raising fresh capital and would require warm introductions to new LPs, contact G+QUANT     ▶ Please use G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks, or send your inquiry directly to [email protected] #VentureCapital #DigitalHealth #HealthcareInnovation #Startups #ClinicalTrials #PatientCare #HealthTech #HealthEquity #CreateHealthVentures

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🚨 NEW ASOM Pod Alert: Halloween Edition! 🎃 “Why Startups Are Failing Faster Than Ever Before” - EP21 A banana, a pineapple, a grape, and a watermelon walk into a hotel room to shoot a podcast… No, this isn’t a bad fruit salad joke—it’s our spookiest episode yet! 👻 Startup nightmares are real, and we’re peeling back the ghostly layers of why so many founders are hitting bumps harder than a zombie hitting a brick wall. 🕷️ What’s creeping around in this episode? ✔️ Why “authentic marketing” isn’t just a buzzword but the secret sauce to making sure your customers don’t ghost you. ✔️ Budget basics that will scare the poor money management right out of you—because financial literacy is as crucial as garlic to a vampire. ✔️ Product-market fit and staying adaptable: like knowing when to run from the haunted house…or pivot in business. ✔️ Why internal strategies beat hiring agencies—because only you know where the skeletons are buried. ✔️ Making those bone-chilling, tough decisions to keep profits up and your startup’s heart still beating. ✔️ How staying close to your customers can turn you into a mind reader (or at least a very good guesser). ✔️ A sneak peek into the ultimate showdown: funding vs. bootstrapping. Trick or treat, am I right? Get ready for some real founder vibes, a cauldron full of actionable tips, and stories scarier than a werewolf on your doorstep. So grab your pumpkin spice latte (or potion of choice) and tune in below! 👇 Amer G., Jimmy Kim, John Roman, and I give some insanely 🌶️🔥 takes during this one…

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Congrats to Eniac Ventures seeded Nirvana on their big A! 🚀 "Nirvana, a startup aiming to give health care providers and consumers the price of treatment before an appointment, raised $24.2 million in Series A funding, it tells Axios exclusively. Why it matters: The raise comes amid a push for greater transparency in health care bills, with one new government rule put into effect in 2021 and more being considered today. What they're saying: "In some weird behavioral way, people were used to the fact that you would sit in a waiting room for six hours and get the bill six weeks later," says Nirvana CPO Kelvin K Chan. "Looking back, that's incredibly strange and archaic, but I think that mentality is starting to shift." How it works: Embedded into health care providers' websites, the software reduces the chances that an insurance claim will be denied after the fact. It does so by using the patient's name, date of birth, and ZIP code to verify a consumer's coverage, Nirvana says. Traditionally, providers required the insurance ID card, which the company's executives say is susceptible to human error. Combining that with information from the provider about the consumer's condition, Nirvana offers an estimate of the appointment cost at the time of booking. Northzone led this round, joined by Inspired Capital, Eniac Ventures and Surface Ventures." Akshay Venkitasubramanian https://lnkd.in/ewznnP3y https://lnkd.in/ey4DPNBE

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Congratulations to Roland Reynolds and the team at Industry Ventures on the raise of its latest $900M hybrid fund (split three ways, 40% backing VC funds, 40% directly investing in promising Series B startups from their existing partnerships, and 20% acquiring stakes in emerging investment firms from other LPs looking to exit). Read more from Marina Temkin, CFA at TechCrunch below. #VC #venturecapital #fundraising #startups #investing #news #technews #startupnews

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118 VCs (one hundred eighteen!) are gathering in San Diego next week - to meet with 30 SD startups. But it's so MUCH bigger than just those 30 co's. It brings VCs back - when they see quality companies. It helps those who are next-in-line and adjacent. It enables us to send deal flow all year 'round. It attracts talent and other companies. It inspires entrepreneurship. Connect is working for SD. Together, we're building the best damn innovation ecosystem on the planet. Year over year. Five.Ten.Thirty.

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And my second investment at defy is in 🐶 zeroETL puppies 🐶... I mean PuppyGraph, which is all the beauty of a graph database, none of the data migration or continuous upkeep of a graph database. Sounds like magic? So are puppies 🐶 . Puppygraph is NOT a graph or a database. It is graph analytics engine that answers graph questions on your existing data warehouses, whether that is a Databricks datalake, Google BigQuery or postgres. Compared to SQL, it's faster, handles way more complexity, scales and has almost no upkeep. How did I get to conviction? 1. Tailwinds - 🌊 Lakehouses 🌊 have helped enterprises put all their data in one place, enabling Puppygraph to unlock insights previously unavailable. - 📚 LLMs! 📚AI and RAG cannot easily traverse fragmented data. Puppygraph's Graph RAG unlocks insights with their Knowledge Graph and spoonfeeds to the LLMs. 2. 👯 Team 👯 We have graph experts from Google, LinkedIn, Databricks, Tigergraph, and Instacart who are uniquely able to build this solution. 3. 💸 Customers 💸 . My alma mater Coinbase is a proud user. The feedback from my former colleagues was off the charts! A blockchain is very much a graph database and Puppygraph tracks down fraudulent transactions that go through mixers and helps identify patterns. Huge congrats to Weimo Liu Danfeng Xu Lei Huang Zhenni Wu Gary Hagmueller, defy.vc is proud to be an investor!!

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#ObsessivelyEnthusiasticInvestor #UnreasonablyEnthusiasticInvestor #IrrationallyEnthusiasticInvestor at REFASHIOND Ventures: The Industrial Transformation Fund. We look for the people we believe are doing the best work in Industrial Transformation & Supply Chain Technology; Attempting the impossible. Then we go all-in on them. With obsessive and unreasonable enthusiasm. Join us. #IndustrialTransformation #SupplyChain #Innovation #Technology #Startups #VentureCapital #DemandTheImpossible #UnreasonableEnthusiasm #ObsessiveEnthusiasm #IrrationalEnthusiasm 

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Caught Flat-Footed! Back in 2018, Jon McNeill, former COO at Lyft, shared a pivotal moment from their capital-raising roadshow. Their pitch deck was dialed in—loaded with impressive growth numbers, market share stats, and the kind of forward momentum that gets investors excited. But there was a hitch: when investors started asking about Lyft’s path to profitability, they found themselves flat-footed. The focus had been entirely on growth; they weren’t prepared to answer the hard questions about sustainability and profitability. Interestingly, Uber was facing the same scrutiny. This isn’t just a story about two ride-sharing giants; it’s a wake-up call for anyone trying to make a case. When you’re up in front of people, it’s not enough to be armed with just the positives. You need to anticipate objections and address concerns. Enter Red Teaming. Red teaming, though it has military roots, is the practice of rigorously challenging your own assumptions and strategies before stepping into any high-stakes situation. It’s about asking the tough questions yourself—or having a trusted group of friends, colleagues, or peers do it for you—before your audience does. What are the potential weaknesses in your argument? What concerns might someone raise? How would you respond if someone challenged your numbers or questioned your strategy? The idea isn’t just to find answers but to build a mindset that embraces resistance and leans into tough questions. Here’s how to start red teaming to prepare for your next big moment: 1. Create a “Red Team” Document: Write down the questions you fear the most or haven’t even considered. This should be a living document where you continually add and refine questions as you gain new insights or face new challenges. 2. Seek Outside Perspectives: Don’t do this alone. Ask your friends, colleagues, and industry peers to poke holes in your argument. The tougher the questions, the better prepared you’ll be. 3. Build the Muscle: Just like any skill, getting comfortable with challenging questions takes practice. Treat every resistance as a chance to sharpen your thinking and refine your response. The goal isn’t always to have the perfect answer but to show you’ve thought critically about potential concerns. 4. Be Present in the Moment: When you’re prepared for resistance, you’re not scrambling for answers. You can stay calm, listen to what’s being asked, and respond with confidence—even if that means admitting you don’t know something but demonstrating how you’ll find the answer. If a company like Lyft can get caught flat-footed, anyone can. The real takeaway is this: you don’t need to fear the hard questions. Instead, use them as a tool to build your resilience and readiness. Don’t just prepare for the pitch—prepare for the pushback. That’s where real confidence is built. Get ahead of the curve. Try red teaming and see how your preparation translates into powerful, poised responses when it matters most.

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Movac KiwiNet Deep Tech is difficult because you do not comprehend 95% of the universe using the Standard Model of Particle physics. Either learn that measurement is flawed due to human bias or experience and unbiased state through transcendence experiences corresponding to Christ consciousness. The physics of life is based on LENR and not the Standard Model of Particle physics. Unfortunately, scientific research has been captured by the materialism perspective. This is mutually exclusive to the light observed in consciousness. Physics of life. Deep Tech https://lnkd.in/gKqC3PAR Gateway into the aromatic ring Faraday cage system. Time to see the light 😁.

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🌟Innovative VC Firm Overcomes Exits Drought with Secondary Sales🌟 ⛵Navigating a challenging landscape where exits are scarce, Santa Barbara Venture Partners (SBVP) has pioneered a novel approach to sustain its growth and attract investors for its second fund: secondary sales. Instead of waiting for traditional exits like IPOs or acquisitions, SBVP opted to sell shares of its portfolio companies, demonstrating its ability to generate returns for investors and stand out in a competitive market. 🎤According to Dan Engel, founder and managing partner of SBVP, these secondary transactions have been a game-changer, sparking investor interest and bolstering the firm's credibility. By leveraging its recent successes, including a lucrative stake in sports-betting company DraftKings Inc.' acquisition of digital lottery app Jackpocket, SBVP seized the opportunity to return profits to its limited partners (LPs) and pave the way for its second fund. 💡Engel highlighted the challenges faced by young VC firms in raising subsequent funds, particularly amid a downturn in exit activity and heightened investor scrutiny. With traditional exit routes becoming increasingly elusive, the pressure is on for firms to demonstrate tangible returns and establish a track record of success. ✨"For us, secondary sales have been a game-changer. They've helped us return profits to our LPs and attract investors for our second fund," said Dan Engel. 💰For SBVP, the decision to pursue secondary sales was driven by the need to provide liquidity to LPs and validate its investment thesis in the eyes of prospective investors. By strategically offloading portions of its holdings in high-performing portfolio companies like Bark Technologies and Rad AI, SBVP not only generated substantial returns but also bolstered investor confidence in its ability to deliver results. ⚠Despite the complexities and potential stigma associated with early share sales, Engel emphasized the importance of prioritizing investor returns and seizing opportunities to unlock value for stakeholders. With a focus on profitability and transparency, SBVP remains committed to its mission of delivering sustainable growth and maximizing returns for its LPs. 🔍 "Returning profits to our investors is our top priority. By strategically selling shares, we're proving our commitment to delivering results and driving value for our stakeholders," added Engel. As SBVP continues to explore secondary transactions and expand its investor base, the firm stands as a testament to innovation and resilience in the face of market challenges. 🚀 ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #fund and increase the international pool of your LP #investors?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VCInnovation #SecondarySalesSuccess #InvestorReturns #ValueCreation 

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The entrepreneurial journey is one of grit, passion, and unwavering belief. I'm truly excited about what Raj Shekhar Singh, Jyotika Gupta , and Sudarshan Ravi Jha are building with z21 Ventures. Their vision resonates deeply with me. As a founder, I know firsthand the rollercoaster of highs and lows that come with building something from the ground up. It's a path that tests you in ways you never imagined, but it's also incredibly rewarding. We've been fortunate to have exceptional investors like Sumir Chadha and WestBridge Capital in our corner. Their support went beyond just capital - they've stood by us through our triumphs and, more importantly, our setbacks. That kind of belief in your vision is invaluable. I'm hopeful and confident that Raj, Jyotika, and Sudarshan will create similar transformative experiences for a new generation of purposeful founders. They understand that true innovation often comes from those daring to challenge the status quo, those driven by a desire to make a real impact. To all the founders out there: Your journey may be hard, but it's worth it. Stay true to your purpose, embrace the challenges, and remember that your ideas have the power to make meaningful change in the world. With supporters like z21 Ventures backing you, there's no limit to what you can achieve. Let's build a future where innovation thrives and where purposeful entrepreneurship creates lasting positive change. The road ahead may be tough, but with determination and the right support, anything is possible.

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I'm excited to announce our newest product💥 💥 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐃𝐲𝐧𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 **You do not need to live in Nevada to use this trust. You just need a licensed Nevada trustee. This product works best for: ▶ Startup founders and execs ▶ VC and PE investors The benefits of this trust include: ---> ZERO state capital gains tax (Nevada is a 0 tax state) ---> Bulletproof asset protection (better than a prenup) ---> Unlimited QSBS potential (you can stack trusts to eliminate federal taxes) My cofounders and I started Dynasty 2 years ago specifically to bring this product to market 🤠 We were 1st employees at Carta and were fortunate enough to take some money off the table. But we paid enormous taxes (over 50%)! On the flip side we met a serial founder who leveraged Dynasty trusts and paid ZERO taxes on over $50m in capital gains 😮 The second we heard about this, we knew we needed to start Dynasty so this product could be available to everyone... So if you are a founder, investor, or anyone with high growth assets - check us out!

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🥁 Drum-rolls Please🥁 Introducing our first shiny new Micro-SaaS from Raissd Labs ✨ 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 ✨ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗔𝗧𝗙)? ATF, is an all-in-one fundraising tool to, 🥸 Identify the right investors in less than 5 mins 📈 Get pitch ready in less than 30 mins 😎 Capture investor attention and make impactful first impressions 💸 Get funding ready with comprehensive guidance and resources. ⚡ Boost your fundraising chances by 10X Sounds too good to be true? Why don’t you try it for yourself? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗧𝗙 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹! 𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘀! Here is a secret 🤫- All our Beta users get 6 months of free access to the ATF tool Join our waitlist now! Link in the first comment #Fundraising #StartupIndia #Entrepreneurship #EarlyStageStartups #StartupFunding#Waitlist #ProductLaunch #EarlyAccess

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September is a crazy month for #climatetech #FOAK themed events. Some I'd like to shout out from the first half: ✅ A FOAK-themed dinner Tim Franklin-Hensler, Charlie Nelson, Dev Motiram, and I hosted, sponsored by Jordan Kellerman (Peachtree Group) and Robert Sarfatis (Polsinelli) during the inaugural #HoustonClimateWeek ✅ A FOAK panel at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship's Energy Tech Venture Forum, also during HCW, moderated by Tim Franklin-Hensler with panelists Charlie Nelson, Laureen Meroueh, PhD, Mac Hatch, and Janice Tran. Topics included adapting rapidly to delays in timing, managing cost runovers, balancing the myriad of KPIs for FOAK, learning to be smarter about how to talk to customers, and how market uncertainty can dramatically affect FOAK projects ✅ A 4-hour "pilotathon" hosted by the Energy Tech Nexus, where different startups got to pitch their pilots. SUCH a good idea, Jason Ethier, Nada Ahmed, Juliana Garaizar, and the rest of the ETN team! ✅ A FOAK panel during Decarb Connect's TechInvest that I got to moderate with panelists Claude Vachet, Jeff Johnson, Francis O'Sullivan, and David Yeh. Topics included using corporate and DOE dollars in FOAK deals, encouraging communication between different investor classes, the 10,000 hours of experience needed to be a good developer, educating companies on project development, and the need for everyone across the climate universe to stretch their roles & take a bit more risk ✅ A generally FOAK-themed set of talks at Decarb TechInvest, expertly curated by Alex Cameron and her team, which included (among others): - a fascinating fireside chat with Rob Day and Matt Lucas moderated by Wim Reyntiens that touched on how critical it is to have accurate cost forecasting, how ROFRs can block additional access to capital, evaluating offtake risk beyond just the ideal, the folly of up rounds for the sake of up rounds, and why one shouldn't obsess over scale up factors and number of operating hours - a talk by Chris Creed that outlined the LPO's strategy around FOAK deployment loans - a FOAK success panel moderated by Kerri Fox that included Leah Ellis, Martin Keighley, and Shreya Dave, which talked about using a carbon price to incentivize corporate action, choosing the right cooperative FOAK partner, creating new offtake agreements in markets that haven't had traditional offtake (like cement<>concrete or CDR), and using job growth to incentivize growth vs. decarbonization. AND ⭐TOMORROW⭐ is the second annual Cleantech Day at Denver Startup Week hosted by Colorado Cleantech. I'm moderating a panel on FOAK successes in Colorado with Eric Davis, Johanna O., Carling Spelhaug, and Kimberly Purdy. Shoutout to Ken Carlson, Laura Hickernell, Joseph P., and Jack Fritzinger for their help & hard work. REGISTER BELOW!!

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In 2024, VCs spent just 2 minutes and 18 seconds with your deck 🤯 You can't control that fact... But you can design for it 💪 -- ♻️ Repost to help a founder in your network Click 'visit my website' at the top of this post to register for my free Seed to Series A training session

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In a startup's early days, founders often skip detailed compensation planning, instead choosing round numbers and moving on. This is an admirable sentiment. But over the long term, founder compensation design can matter a lot to the company, so it's worth taking some time to think this through. Here are some benchmarks and suggestions for founder compensation across: 1. Salary 2. Equity Split 3. Vesting https://lnkd.in/gcDXehXx

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Building early stage startup momentum? Make sure your speed-to-help is measured in minutes. In today’s environment, you can’t wait days for help. You have to get unstuck fast. With timely advice, execution quickens. Thats the power of a safe-space community that’s built on ‘giving’. It’s our foundational value. You should give what we are building a try.  Zero risk.   DM me to learn more. We’re happy to tee up a call. Happy Wednesday, ya’ll. ———— Please consider ♻️ with founders in your network. As early stage founders, we at times, are a problem away from sinking or propelling forward.

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When you're scaling a DTC brand from $5m to $30m, don't try to optimize for lowest cost of capital when you raise debt financing... The lenders out there who can offer the lowest cost of capital usually can't offer the capital flexibility and deal terms that you need as you scale. Low cost of capital lenders don't love DTC. It scares them because there is little to no A/R and inventory is a riskier collateral base. As such, they'll either offer you way too little capital availability or their offer will come with hefty protective provisions that feel punitive. Non-bank lenders tend to be the best fit for a DTC-heavy brand that is scaling profitability beyond $5m in annual sales. Traditional bank lenders, which offer lower cost of capital, tend to become a better option after you hit $30m+ in annual sales. Obviously, there are always exceptions to this rule, but the advice I'm offering here turns out to be true most of the time in my experience. __ Want more tips like this? Consider reposting or giving me Jon Blair a follow.

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